Discover Southfield: Walking Trail, Stone and History

Southfield is a destination for travellers who want to combine walking with local history. The Pendle Way offers a varied landscape, while historic farms, a Methodist chapel and distinctive stone features turn attention to the past. When choosing a holiday apartment or holiday house, the key question is therefore whether you plan to spend your days mainly along the circular walking route, exploring cultural history, or combining both.

Walking on the Pendle Way

The Pendle Way is a 45-mile circular walking route divided into eight different sections. The fifth section offers several notable sights in the vicinity of Southfield: After the farm near Catlow and a bunker from the Second World War, the route turns left into Catlow Quarry. Elsewhere, the same section passes Southfield Methodist Chapel, follows a lime tree avenue and then continues along a path with two cattle gates to Walverden Reservoir.

This sequence makes the route particularly interesting for planning a trip with different ideas for each day. You can dedicate one day to walking and discover the quarry, historical traces and the route to the reservoir along a single trail.

Historic Buildings and Local Stone Tradition

Catlow Quarry also tells the story of the region’s building history: The quarry supplied a large proportion of the local stone for the Nelson area. The importance of the material can be seen in several buildings. Catlow House is a two-storey, symmetrically designed Grade II listed stone house dating from the 18th century. It has a slate roof with stone copings and kneelers, as well as a doorway with a moulded stone surround.

Southfield Cottages 4, 5, 6 and 7 on Southfield Lane are also Grade II listed buildings. Catlow Hall Farm forms part of an early farmhouse with a central gabled front and a later wing from the 18th or 19th century on the west side. Its historical significance lies partly in its construction from local stone and stone slabs. Catlow Farmhouse and Catlow Hall Farm also include a house that is probably dated to 1666 and has a remodelled core from around 1600.

Southfield Methodist Church and Further Traces

Southfield Methodist Church is housed in an 18th-century barn. Its surviving features include rubble masonry, a slate roof and a central segmental-arched entrance with a keystone bearing the inscription “W&E/Sagan/1797”. The right-hand part of the barn was converted into a Methodist chapel around 1800. A plaque on the barn also gives 18 April 1786 as the day on which J Wesley preached there.

An unusual detail awaits you on Southfield Lane: The cup-and-ring carving is located in a wall beside Southfield Lane above Marsden Park Golf Course and the town of Nelson in Lancashire. Discoveries such as this add an extra cultural and historical dimension to a walk, without requiring a fixed sightseeing itinerary.

Which Accommodation Suits Your Trip Plans?

If the Pendle Way is the main focus, you can initially look for a holiday apartment or holiday house in a location that suits your personal daily plans. If you are more interested in architectural history, the buildings around Catlow and the Methodist Church offer specific themes for quieter days of discovery. For a trip with several interests, accommodation in Southfield is one way to incorporate walking and historical observations into the same holiday plan. Your decision should be based on your preferred activities and planned mobility, rather than on an assumed proximity to individual sights.

Discover More Places

For further planning, you can also explore Penwortham, Salterforth, Lancaster, Barrowford, Poulton Le Fylde, Leyland, Charnock Richard and Euxton.

For the higher-level travel overview: Lancashire.